Japanese consortium to demonstrate inductive charging while driving

Inductive charging of electric vehicles while driving is now also being tested in Japan. A consortium of science and industry has launched a demonstration project in the city of Kashiwa.

The trial will run until March 2025 under the direction of Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and its results are expected to help “advance the development of an even more advanced mobile power system”, according to an accompanying release highlighting the project as a public, private and academic initiative.

A Japanese research group has already been working on the development of inductive charging systems since 2018. The pilot project in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City – a neighbourhood of the city of Kashiwa in Chiba Prefecture – involves the universities of Tokyo and Chiba, as well as nine companies, including Bridgestone, Mitsui Fudosan, Rohm and NSK.

The power supply system now being deployed uses prefabricated coils embedded in the road, developed at the University of Tokyo, and a vehicle detection system that works in standby mode. The solution is said to be able to supply the battery of suitably equipped electric cars and plug-in hybrids with enough power within ten seconds to increase the range by one kilometre. Electric vehicles could thus get by with smaller batteries, they say.

A press photo shows the rear of a converted Toyota Hiace, which is apparently being used for testing purposes. The model is a small van.

eenewseurope.com, k.u-tokyo.ac.jp (in Japanese)